California Technology International

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California Technology International	by Bill Degnan - 12/14/2006 13:11
The California Technology International 1008-A. Click image for larger view. A California Technology International 1108-A with built-in Micro Communications Corp. stringy floppy drive arrived today. I don't know how to use it, and it appears semi-functional. It powers on and eventually a "1" blinks weakly on the left LED. I was not able to load a program from tape. When I press the key labeled "FROM TAPE" the built-in stringy floppy motor activates and a "2" appears on the display in one of the left center LED's. It does not appear to load (or rewind) the tape, and I am unsure how to rewind a tape, etc. When I press a keyboard key (it's a membrane keyboard with qwerty keys plus a lot of specialized keys) the system beeps in response. I opened the unit, and the system is full of Z80 family chips and associated IC's, which I expected, because of the stringy floppy. The keyboard keys all appear to work. I did the standard re-seating of chips, etc, but I have not spent too much time on the system. There appears to be some kind of internal floppy or cassette port. Other than the stringy floppy drive, there are no other external ports. The system is from 1979. I'll need more time. Crazy piece of technology. Anyone have a manual for an 1108-A lying about? Here what is printed on the stringy floppy case: California Technology International 2990 Gordon Avenue Santa Clara, CA 95051 (408) 737 1530 Inside the case one of the 6 tapes has a label "TPM-2 File Search Master Rev A" the rest read "User Notes" AND All remaining tapes also have one of the following printed on them: "Video Cassette Data type 16K" or "Video Cassette Data type 32K I will post pics when I get the chance. Reply
California Technology International	by Peter Andrea - 12/18/2007 04:53
hello, I am a fan of vintage computers, and have recently purchased a California Technology International MR 2000 unit. It looks to be an early PDA, with hard-keys for calendar functions and an a-z soft key pad. I tried to Google it to find more info, but the best I could find was (perhaps) a similar machine on your site. I opened the machine, and found a disconnected cap, and I am trying to match the power supply. any info on the company or model would be greatly appreciated. So curious. Thanks in advance, -peter Reply
Cal Tech International MR 2000	by Bill Degnan - 12/18/2007 10:18
Sorry...I never heard of the MR 2000, but I bet it's a video editing i/o device of some kind. When you get the chance, post a picture. Reply
California Technology International	by Peter Andrea - 12/18/2007 12:47
This is going to sound dumb... but how do I post a picture? Reply
MR 2000 Pics	by Bill Degnan - 12/19/2007 10:18
You can just enter the url, there is no way to upload pics. Reply
CTI 1008-A Drive Belt Replacement	by Bill Degnan - 02/14/2008 12:39
The California Technologies International 1008-A uses for I/O storage a Micro Communications Corp. stringy floppy that pre-dates the Exatron Stringy Floppy drive used in TRS 80's. I have replaced the drive belt. Now when I attempt to load a wafer it appears to read the entire tape (while showing a "2" on the screen) and stops when done. I still can get nothing else out of this unit. It's possible that the entire thing is just an I/O device for another computer? Here are some pics Reply
MR 2000 Found	by Bill Degnan - 07/11/2020 13:11
The California Technology International MR 2000. I believe these came out in 1979 or 1980, but I need to confirm. Click image for larger view. My friend Sellam I believe cracked the case on these CTI devices. Rather than video editing equipment, Sellam suggested and I agree that these are actually PDA's! What makes these things so interesting is that they fit perfectly into the continuum of portable computing devices on the way to true laptops. The MR 2000 had no general programming capability and no permanent storage. A year later the 1008-A model was introduced with Stringy floppy tape storage but no programming (BASIC) capability. If this company had continued making these devices, perhaps the third model would have been a real laptop. Reply